This invention relates generally to the field of microwave cooking, and more particularly, is directed to a plastic oven rack construction to hold food in a desired position for cooking.
In the microwave cooking art, it is well known that microwave energy can be successfully used in the preparation and cooking of various kinds of foods. It has been found that conventional metallic oven pans and oven racks are unsuitable for use within microwave cooking ovens. Such metallic parts, when subject to microwave energy, can become hot enough to actually burn food in contact with the metal rather than to permit even cooking throughout. Because of this, it is now common practice to employ materials other than metal for holding food within the microwave oven for food cooking purposes. Such non-metallic materials which are unaffected by microwave energy can be safely employed within the oven interior in that the materials will not be heated or otherwise affected by the microwaves. The food being cooked absorbs the microwave energy and there is no tendency to melt, burn or otherwise deteriorate the nonmetallic cooking utensils themselves.
In view of this relatively new form of cooking energy, prior workers in the art have yet to develop a suitable method and apparatus for holding large food stuffs in a desired position for microwave cooking. Conventionally, when utilizing electric and gas heated ovens, large foods such as roasts, poultry and other large meats are normally placed within a metallic rack that is adjustable to a degree to accommodate the food. The rack with the meat secured therein is placed into an oven pan to catch the drippings during the baking or roasting procedures. In the case of microwave ovens, suitable, comparable, plastic utensils have not as yet been developed and to date, there is no apparatus available to adjustably hold large food stuffs such as roasts, turkeys, and other large meat products within the oven in a manner to assure overall cooking. Certain types of microwave cooking apparatus has been disclosed by prior workers in the art in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,997, 566, 3,591,751, 3,789,178, 3,810,248, 2,961,520, 2,912,554, 3,662,141, 3,230,864. However, all of these prior art microwave cooking appliances do not employ or teach a plastic grid base rack or the use of plastic holders which can clip to the plastic rack or grid to permit easy space adjustments to hold meat or other foods in a desired position for cooking.